Originally Posted by
braslvr
I didn't notice a size/amount change as much as a change in the "roast beef" itself, for the worse. It wouldn't surprise me if they became smaller either. The final straw was when they changed to having ONLY curly seasoned fries, which I detest. It's been at least 12 years since I've entered one.
In my area, at least, Arby's now has crinkle fries in addition to the curly fries. Haven't been to Dairy Queen recently enough to put them in the comparison, but in my opinion these crinkle fries are the best available at any fast food restaurant (you can, of course, get much better at a real establishment).
I can't think of anything that's as good as it used to be. A lot of that, of course, is due to my taste buds getting much older. Even some of the finer (relative term, not a description!) restaurants have gone downhill. When I was growing up, for instance, Stuart Anderson's Black Angus was a premier steak house. Now it's just Black Angus and not nearly as good -- but maybe my palate is more discerning than when I was 10. (Their biggest problem right now is inconsistency -- went there in July and had the worst prime rib of my life; went there last week and it was the best ever!)
I think a lot of the differences you'll find come simply in the preparation, or lack thereof. I do accounting for a handful of restaurants and it's really disillusioning how many of their dishes come frozen from Costco or Restaurant Depot! If they're just going to take a bag of frozen pot stickers and drop them in a steamer or a vat of oil, I can do that myself.